The sexual assault investigation against Duke's chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity has expanded—with the Durham Police Department seizing property from an additional residence.
A set of new search warrants issued earlier this month allowed DPD to search the house next door to the site of the original investigation on West Chapel Hill Street. The second-degree rape case stems from a female freshman's allegation that she was sexually assaulted by an ADPhi member following a fraternity party held the night of Jan. 8. The fraternity remains suspended by the University as the investigation continues.
Immediately after the allegations were made in January, police officers searched the house that hosted the party. Earlier this month, following a March 23 interview with the female freshman, the police searched a second house on West Chapel Hill Street—which is also part of a group of houses referred to by students as "The Compound."
The alleged victim told police that she recalled several scenes that she could not place in the timeline of the evening on Jan. 8—walking up a grassy hill with a senior fraternity member, entering a house "next to the party house" and being in a bedroom with black bedding and a poster of the rapper Drake.
As a result of their conversation with the alleged victim, police requested warrants for the second house—which they believed to be the home of a senior fraternity member who sent several texts to the freshman the evening of the party—including one that said, "HA HA.. YOU WENT BACK WITH A KID I KNOW... YOU'RE SCREWED!!" The female freshman also recalled interacting with this senior fraternity member earlier in the evening, including when she refused to accompany him to his bedroom.
The search warrant for the second house requests that police be allowed to search the house for black bedding, wall posters, any clothing belonging to the freshman—including a black tank top and bra and dark-colored underwear—trash, any correspondence that could relate to date rape drugs, any contraband or otherwise illegal items and any "moving and still image or picture files relating to [Victim] or sexually provocative pictures of other women," among other things.
Police took a comforter, sheets, a tank top, two posters, a condom wrapper and a used condom when they searched the house in April.
While searching the property, police noted a security camera on the front porch of the house. A laptop, an Apple "time capsule" storage device and "digital data" thought to possibly hold footage from the security camera were taken by police to be searched.
The police file has been locked by DPD as the investigation continues.
The investigation has been ongoing for nearly three months. The morning after the party, the female student awoke in her dorm room, wearing an unfamiliar t-shirt and without her bra or underwear. She had no memory of most of the evening and went to Duke University Medical Center for a rape kit because she suspected she may have been the victim of nonconsensual sex.
At the hospital, an individual called 911 on behalf of the freshman because it appeared she had been sexually assaulted.
The police investigation has revealed that GPS data from the student’s phone placed her in the vicinity of an apartment complex on South LaSalle Street for a period of time after she left the party—near the apartment of a second senior member of the fraternity, who some witnesses said left the party with the freshman. The police affidavit suggests that this senior is the subject of the text message saying "YOU WENT BACK WITH A KID I KNOW," sent by the first senior fraternity member.
The GPS tracking records on the female freshman's phone indicate that she arrived in the vicinity of her dorm around 4:15 a.m.—where she later woke up.
The fraternity remains suspended by the University, confirms Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. The investigation is being handled entirely by DPD, rather than Duke, he said.
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